You've probably noticed that in China, Japan, and in many countries of Southeast Asia, the roofs of historic buildings have an unusually complex shape.
And this is not at all for beauty, as it might seem at first glance, although, of course, such roofs have a unique oriental sophistication.
Nothing like this is found in the architecture of buildings in Europe, Africa or South America. But why did Chinese architects settle for such a laborious roof option?
Yonghegong Temple, Beijing
Any civilization is a product of the geographic space in which it was formed, and China is no exception in this sense.
The natural conditions in which Chinese culture originated and developed largely determined its appearance.
Specific roofs in Chinese architecture also did not appear at all by chance, and historical chronicles indicate that already about 4,000 thousand years ago, similar buildings were encountered in China.
Longhua Temple Complex, Shanghai.
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The heart of Chinese civilization is the basins of the Yangtze and Yellow He rivers, and the most densely populated areas are traditionally the coastal maritime regions. Here, during the rainy season, powerful tropical showers dominate, with the arrival of which precipitation may not stop for weeks or months. This is the first factor that influenced the shape of Chinese roofs. In order for the precipitation flowing from the roof to move away from the walls of the building as far as possible, a roof with similar slopes was invented.
The presence of raised corners helps to divert precipitation to a considerable distance from the walls of the structure, ensuring their dryness and safety. In addition, the curved corners of the extended roofs allowed more light to enter the rooms.
To support such a complex roof, Chinese architects have invented a completely unique roof fastening system that is not found anywhere else. There is no rafter system traditional for many architectural styles; instead, a very complex post-and-beam structure with multi-tiered brackets called "dou gun" is used.
See what traditional Chinese roof supports look like.
The territory of the Chinese Empire was regularly shaken by tremors, a significant part of which led to destruction and casualties. In such conditions, it was required to create special structures that would make it possible to extinguish the manifestations of underground activity, minimizing their impact.
The traditional Chinese roof rests on a central pillar that dampens vibrations in earthquakes. For this reason, the post-and-beam structure became a genius invention that has allowed many historical buildings to survive to this day.
Yantong Temple, Kunming.
There is also such an explanation:
“So that the dragon that has fallen on the roof does not fall into the courtyard, but flees away thanks to the roof slope. An explanation that is often found in books on the history and culture of China: “Demons can only move in a straight line, they cannot repeat a curved line, nor can they go around a ledge. The upward curved edges of the roofs protected the courtyard from evil spirits that could not overcome the crooked roof. For this, wall screens in the courtyards, wavy lines of fences, winding paths and other details that determined the appearance of Chinese buildings served as well."
Another belief about the curved roofs of pagodas is connected precisely with dragons. There are legends that air dragons were great pranksters and amusement lovers. More than anything, they loved to ride from the rooftops. And so, one peasant named Liu Tian got into the habit of flying dragons in the air and rolling from the roof every night. Since a vegetable garden was laid out near his house, the dragons, rolling down, would certainly fall to his beds and spoil the crops. The peasant was very angry, but he knew that it was not worth spoiling his relationship with the dragons. Engineering savvy helped him solve the problem. Liu came up with the idea to slightly change the trajectory of the dragons rolling on the roof. He took and bent the edges of the roof of the house so that the dragon would fly up again into the air, or at least fly away to his garden. Thus, Liu Tian saved his crops,and dragons got some extra fun. Now they had a springboard to take off into the sky.
That is, the answer to the question "Why do the Chinese have roofs bent?" such - so that the demons were uncomfortable, and the dragons, on the contrary, were fun and comfortable.